The housing process for the upcoming school year is well under way, and students are still currently dealing with the search for housing. Many students in the Class of 2027 have received word from Residential Life that they are on a “TBD” list for housing for the ’24-’25 school year. These students, currently without housing, have brought concerns to Residential Life of not receiving housing at all, along with questions of what the process of receiving housing will look like for them.
Many students have been left to question what the TBD list is and what it means for their situation. There has been a lot of speculation that the college ran out of rooms/space for students to live, but there is space available and if the housing deposit was paid, students are guaranteed housing.
One of the students on the TBD list, Benjamin Harrington ’27 received the email from Residential Life that he is currently not housed for next year. “I found out, via email, five minutes before my time slot,” Harrington said. His time slot to choose housing was set for 3:35 P.M., and only minutes before is when he found out that he did not have an option to select housing.
Initially, after receiving the email, Harrington’s “reaction was to storm down to Residential Life and confront them in person about it,” Harrington said. His initial reaction is what got him down to the ResLife office and be “the first one to go in person and do so,” Harrington said. His confrontation led him to a conversation with Susan Weintraub, the Director of Residential life, and she “sat me down and gave me the rundown,” Harrington said.
Tori Wilson ’27, another student on the TBD list said that she “was just nervous because I was scared I wouldn’t be able to live on campus , as well as confused on how there would be a difference between now and getting housing in July.” This question, asked by many of the students on the list, was broken down in their conversations as well as in an email sent to them by Weintraub.
Weintraub’s email addressed their concerns and frequently asked questions, to provide comfort and clarity on their current situation. In her email Weintraub assured these students that they “house all TBDs before they have to return in August.”
The rundown process begins with “touching base with the folks who are in TBD, both female and male, in May,” Weintraub said. Students who have received the email that they are on the TBD list will hear from ResLife to clarify where they are at in the process, “and then over June and July spaces open up and we try to honor folks’ preferences of where they want to be,” Weintraub said.
The TBD list is compiled primarily of two groups. “Groups who went through, diligently, the room selection process and just didn’t get a room at the end, and a list of people who didn’t do anything in the process,” Weintraub said, are the students who are currently unhoused for next year and are waiting for their room assignments.
There are many reasons for students to be on the TBD list, and “it has more to do with my unknowns about who’s coming back and the genders,” Weintraub said. Since Saint Anselm does not have co-ed residential halls, gender is essential when determining where these students will be placed.
“Right now, if I took my entire TBD list and all the spaces that I have on campus, I might only have 30 people who don’t have a room,” Weintraub said. “Everyone would have a room right now, I just need to know what gender that’s going to be,” Weintraub said. Housing assignments for students on this list will be announced over the summer, as the summer leaves time for the numbers of students who will not return to campus/the college to allow Residential Life to figure out where they will be going.
After voicing their concerns with Weintraub, the students on the TBD list and those that conversed with her received an email that explained the process, where they are going within the process, and what to expect in the upcoming months regarding their housing. With the clarification from Weintraub, Wilson said that “the office of Residential Life has been really understanding and they told me step-by-step how this process will play out, and I am hopeful I will end up in a room that both my roommate and I will be comfortable and happy in.”
Harrington, also hopeful after his conversation with Weintraub, said “I’m hoping that, as long as I work with them, I’ll be placed in LLC or Baroody, because those are my two choices.” As Weintraub mentioned, ResLife works very hard to assign students with their housing preferences, so she is on their side to get them what they want and need.
Though the housing selection process may appear as a “crisis”, there is no need for panic or chaos. All students will be placed in a room, and the only responsibility of the TBD students is to work with ResLife and be patient until they receive their assignment.